closures

Monday Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at General Vanier, 1500 Cumberland St., Cornwall, is the final public Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) meeting to discuss the proposed closure of Glengarry District High School.

The Glengarry SOS committee "can't overstate the importance of a strong GDHS presence at this meeting. If there is one public event to go to, this is the one. We'd ask you to wear red Gaels colours, or red Gaels clothing. Doors open at 6!"

Glengarry SOS is providing busing from the Glengarry Sports Palace parking lot, free of charge. Buses will leave at 5. For more information, or to reserve a spot on one of the buses, please contact a committee member:

As the referee blew his whistle to start the SD&G senior girls soccer championship match at GDHS this afternoon, athletes from both teams – the Gaels and the Char-Lan Crusaders – came to the midfield stripe and sat down as one, aiming to draw further attention to UCDSB's threat to close both of the English public high schools in Glengarry county.

The girls from both schools were silent for a time, then chanting in unison "save our schools."

The action today was part of a larger movement in North and South Glengarry to stop the school board from abandoning our communities.

The Upper Canada District School Board has scolded organizers of a Save Our Schools demonstration Tuesday at Glengarry District High School.

Superintendent of Schools Tim Mills issued the following statement:

"Our first priority for our students in the Upper Canada District School Board is to attend to their safety and well-being when they are left in our care during the course of the school day. Given our obligation to supervise and care for students when they are at school, we were very concerned by the staging of an unauthorized activity by some of our students today at Glengarry District High School.

It is understood that our students and members of the local community have strong views about the value of GDHS as a special place for learning and growing our next generation. At the same time, it is essential that the school can fully discharge legal obligations that it owes to students for their care throughout the entire school day.

With this in mind, staff at the school cannot condone the actions that students followed that interrupted the school day and interfered with the staff’s legal obligation to supervise students and maintain the schedule that defines a regular school day.

We want our students to be actively involved in any matter of local interest and we will always ensure that we draw their attention to the means and opportunities for lending their voice and ideas to the topics. By doing so, we ensure that the message – and not the method – is the focus for public attention. We want our students to understand that we are here to support them in their efforts to become engaged and involved in a wide range of matters. We also require our students to respect limitations in which schools can appropriately support their approach to how they share their thinking and their voice.

We are both concerned and disappointed that GDHS students who organized today's event disregarded requests by the school's administration to use other opportunities to share their concerns about the pending accommodation review process. In no manner can we accept others advocating that students – some as young as 12 years of age – are properly cared for by walking out of their school rather than being in class. Our staff will continue to bring to the attention of our students the appropriate channels available to express their views so that we can maintain a balance between the interests of our students and our obligation to safely operate the school and supervise pupils."

Right to left, Tony Vogel, Martin Lang, (both from Williamstown), Paul Vogel (Apple Hill) and Rob McDonald (North Lancaster) are Glengarry producers, parents and members of the Glengarry Federation of Agriculture, who brought their tractors to a rally in Cornwall Friday protesting UCDSB's proposal to close Char-Lan and Glengarry District high schools, among others. They say the local farming community will suffer if Glengarry rural schools close because they rely on students to help with farm work. If students are being bused to city schools they won't be there when their farm families need their help. Read more in our October 26 edition.

Glengarry groups opposing school closures who planned to take part in a rally in Cornwall on Friday have cancelled the demonstration because Bridgewood Public School's grand opening has been postponed until further notice.

Parent Connie Hurtubise of Alexandria voices her concerns about the proposed school closure at a public meeting Wednesday night at Glengarry District High School. About 85 parents, students and community supporters attended the two-hour session. Char-Lan District High School will be the site of another meeting tonight (Oct. 6) at 7 p.m. in the high school canteen.